Narrative:

This is a general safety report to cover the multitude of ACARS reliability issues I have experienced; especially this last week or so. Most recently was our flight to phx. Beginning at the gate; we had an ACARS no comm message. This did not get corrected until close to departure time requiring a significantly higher workload to accomplish routine items and less time to focus on more critical aspects of our flight. These problems continued off and on throughout our flight to phx with the last ACARS no comm scenario happening within 20 miles of phx.with our increasing dependence on ACARS for performance and communication; I feel that this issue is becoming more and more of a safety concern. We have no official or approved way to 'reset' ACARS; although mechanics will sometimes pull circuit breakers or use maintenance functions in the ACARS menu that may sometimes successfully reset ACARS; there is essentially nothing we as pilots can do. Even if we did have a way to effectively reset the system; our ACARS reliability is horrible. Resetting the system takes time and effort when many times that time and effort should be focused on other more pertinent and safety critical tasks. If I am in central america somewhere and I need ACARS capability for a myriad of possible reasons such as weather/runway change; diversion; passenger issue; fuel issue; customs issue; etc.; the last thing I want to be concerned about is whether or not ACARS will work. If we are moving forward with an ACARS centered philosophy we need an ACARS system that works better than ours currently does. I feel like we are trying to race the indy 500 in our mom's old toyota corolla. It seems like until someone diverts to an airport in central america without being able to tell anyone and ends up on the ramp with armed law enforcement surrounding our aircraft; followed shortly by a flood of social media posts tagging our company and the incident; nothing is going to be done to fix the problem.bottom line: ACARS needs to be improved!!! First; ACARS reliability needs significant improvement. We also need an approved way to reset ACARS when required. I feel like; with many other technological aspects; we have been limping this along; band-aiding a much less than adequate system instead of fixing/upgrading it to where it needs to be to support our operation.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 First Officer reported that he has witnessed a multitude of ACARS reliability issues.

Narrative: This is a general safety report to cover the multitude of ACARS reliability issues I have experienced; especially this last week or so. Most recently was our flight to PHX. Beginning at the gate; we had an ACARS NO COMM message. This did not get corrected until close to departure time requiring a significantly higher workload to accomplish routine items and less time to focus on more critical aspects of our flight. These problems continued off and on throughout our flight to PHX with the last ACARS NO COMM scenario happening within 20 miles of PHX.With our increasing dependence on ACARS for performance and communication; I feel that this issue is becoming more and more of a safety concern. We have no official or approved way to 'reset' ACARS; although Mechanics will sometimes pull circuit breakers or use maintenance functions in the ACARS menu that may sometimes successfully reset ACARS; there is essentially nothing we as pilots can do. Even if we did have a way to effectively reset the system; our ACARS reliability is horrible. Resetting the system takes time and effort when many times that time and effort should be focused on other more pertinent and safety critical tasks. If I am in Central America somewhere and I need ACARS capability for a myriad of possible reasons such as weather/runway change; diversion; passenger issue; fuel issue; customs issue; etc.; the last thing I want to be concerned about is whether or not ACARS will work. If we are moving forward with an ACARS centered philosophy we need an ACARS system that works better than ours currently does. I feel like we are trying to race the Indy 500 in our mom's old Toyota Corolla. It seems like until someone diverts to an airport in Central America without being able to tell anyone and ends up on the ramp with armed law enforcement surrounding our aircraft; followed shortly by a flood of social media posts tagging our company and the incident; nothing is going to be done to fix the problem.Bottom line: ACARS NEEDS TO BE IMPROVED!!! First; ACARS reliability needs significant improvement. We also need an approved way to reset ACARS when required. I feel like; with many other technological aspects; we have been limping this along; band-aiding a much less than adequate system instead of fixing/upgrading it to where it needs to be to support our operation.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.